George Lucas to new 'Star Wars' film: I'm your divorced father

NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) - "Star Wars" creator George
Lucas, who was not involved in making the long-awaited new film,
"The Force Awakens," said he is as ambivalent about seeing the
movie as a divorced father would be about attending his child's
wedding.

Lucas, who sold the franchise to Disney three years ago for
some $4 billion, told the Washington Post in an interview he had
no connection with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which opens
worldwide on Dec 18.

Despite initial reports that Lucas would act as a
consultant, the director said Disney "didn't like" the stories
he had outlined for the three sequels.

"There is no such thing as working over someone's shoulder,"
Lucas told the Post in the interview published on Monday.

"You're either the dictator or you're not. And to do that
would never work, so I said 'I'm going to get divorced.' ...I
knew that I couldn't be involved. All I'd do is make them
miserable. I'd make myself miserable. It would probably ruin a
vision - J.J. (Abrams) has a vision, and it's his vision."

At the time of the interview, about two weeks ago, Lucas
said he had yet to see the film, which reunites original 1977
cast members Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill and is
directed by J.J. Abrams.

Lucas said watching it would be like a divorced man going to
the wedding of a grown child. "My ex will be there, my new wife
will be there, but I'm going to have to take a very deep breath
and be a good person and sit through it and just enjoy the
moment, because it is what it is and it's a conscious decision
that I made."

Lucas also defended his controversial decision to change a
key scene in the original 1977 movie in which pilot Han Solo
(played by Ford) opened fire first on bounty hunter Greedo.

When the digitally enhanced version was re-released in 1997,
it was Greedo who shot first, creating one of the most enduring
and divisive debates among "Star Wars" fans.

"Han Solo was going to marry Leia, and you look back and
say, 'Should he be a cold-blooded killer?' " Lucas told the
Post, adding he thought of the Han Solo character as a John
Wayne type hero. "When you're John Wayne, you don't shoot people
(first) - you let them have the first shot. It's a mythological
reality that we hope our society pays attention to."
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Gregorio)